La Cosa Nostra, This Thing of Ours (24 page)

"I went to the
library also." She reaches behind the seat and grabs a book that is on the backseat behind me, putting it in my lap. "We need to do some research," she says when I see the title of the book,
La Cosa Nostra, A history of the Italian Mafia
. 

"What are you saying?" I look down at the old book and back up to her. 

"That we need to do our research, because we are going to Italy," she states it like it's a fact.

"
No, Petal, it's too dangerous. If I go, you won't be going with me." She slams on the brakes, the tail of the truck swaying back and forth, bringing it to a stop on the gravel road. Dust flies around the SUV.

"Excuse me?"
she demands. "Did you not just say two hours ago that we will never not be together?"

"Yes, but, I'm not goin
g to put you–" She interrupts me putting her hand up.

"Fuck that!
WE are going and WE are going soon.  You've spent enough of your life not knowing your mother. Also we aren't going in blind. We are going to do our research," she says. She is staring at me with determination like I have never seen before.

"Are we together or not?"
she demands. For such a tiny petite thing, she can sure get her point across.

"Yes, forever.
I am never letting you go, ever.  But ... can we talk about this later? I just found this out two days ago. Let it sink in a little, okay." I tell her, hoping it will make her drop it for now. I will die first before I put her life in danger. I also love the fact that she is in this with me, she is in for life. 

"Okay, fine, we will talk about it later." She takes off down the
road again seeming satisfied. I flip open the book on my lap reading the first page.  Right away I see that the Esposito family has been in charge for a couple hundred years. I shut the book when we pull up to her house. Time to meet the parents. My palms are sweaty, their approval is very important. 

Harper takes my hand as we walk up the f
ront porch and into the house. "Mom," Harper yells.

"In
the kitchen, honey," her mom yells back. If Harper wasn't standing next to me, I would have sworn it was her that just said that. 

"You ready, baby?
" she says to me before we step into the kitchen. I nod to her with a half smile.  What I see is Harper in her late forties. I would never guess it by looking at her. I only know how old her parents are because she has told me. She looks just like her with shorter hair, and a little heavier. Not fat at all just not as slim as Harper.  She does look older, but never in a million years would I have guessed her to be almost fifty years old. 

"Mom, this
is Liam Tarseta. Liam, my mother Laura Troy." Harper introduces us, and I'm not sure what I am supposed to do, shake her hand, bow, nod? I don't have to guess, because Laura comes around the big square island in the middle of the kitchen and embraces me in a hug.

"It
is so nice to meet you, Liam," she exclaims, stepping back to look at me.

"You als
o, Mrs. Troy." I smile at her. She is tinier than I first thought. Standing next to me now, she is actually shorter than Harper. How did this little thing give birth to those huge boys? My question is answered in a matter of seconds when a man bigger than Kade walks in the back door. 

"Daddy,
" Harper says, walking up to her father to give him a hug. His huge arms engulf her in a bear hug. 

"Sweetheart, I'm glad to see you are feeling better.
" He kisses the top of her head then his attention comes to me. No doubt that his sons have already told him that I was the reason she was so upset. 

"Much better, Daddy.
I want you to meet Liam, my boyfriend," she says, putting her tiny hand in his giant paw. She pulls him into the kitchen.  "Liam, this is Brad Troy, Daddy, Liam Tarseta," she says, now standing next to me. 

"You were
what had my daughter all upset I hear," his voice booming as he glares down at me. I don't know how in the world this giant of a man and his petite little wife work. I am speechless as his eyes bore holes through me. 

"Yes, sir.
I am very sorry about that. It killed me to know I caused her so much pain," I answer, and for the first time ever, I am intimidated. I feel like this bear of a man could crush me at any second for hurting his daughter. 

"Next time
you won't have to worry about it, because you will be dead if my daughter ever comes home like that again," he booms, now leaning up against the counter. 

"Brad, st
op, you're scaring the poor boy," Laura says, coming up to her husband and wrapping her arms around his waist. Her face comes to midway up his torso. Her arms don't even come close to making it around his waist. He puts his arm around her shoulders and it's like she disappears. 

"That's the point, Lori
," he chuckles, leaning down to kiss his wife. 

"I swear, Mr. Troy, it will never happen again."  Harp
er puts her arm around my waist sensing that I am tense. It doesn't help me. I get another glare when she does this. I don't make a move to touch his daughter. 

"Make sure that it don't," he warns
before excusing himself to take a shower before dinner.  

"Don't let him scare you dear, he is really a big teddy bear." Laura laughs going back around
the island to work on dinner. "Liam, the boys are in the living room watching some game, you go join them. Harper, help your mom with supper." She shoos me to leave them alone. I turn to Harper horrified. 

"Okay
, Mom, I am just going to show him the way and I will be back." She guides me through a huge dining room with a table that is already set for dinner. 

The living room is just off the dining room.
I hear Kade talking about a bad call and the noise from the TV.  

"You'll be ok
ay?" She turns to me putting her arms around my neck before I am left to the wolves. 

"Yeah sure, with your giant family, no problem," I chuckle nervously.
She stands on her tiptoes and places a slow kiss on my lips, followed by another. 

"You're doing great," she coos against my lips. I have my hands on her hips
kissing her more passionately, when Kade walks in. 

"Hey, lover boy, h
ands off my sister in this house," he shouts. Harper lets me loose and turns on her heels to face her brother.

"Don't even,
Kade. You've made out with a ton of girls in this house. Don't even think about telling me what to do." She points her finger in his face. 

"Oh relax, just because you are going off to U of I to become a big fancy doctor doesn't mean you
are a grown up." He wraps his arm around her neck bringing her to him and patting her head. 

"You'r
e going to U of I?" I play dumb. I didn't know she had found out yet.

"
Don't act like you don't know. The letter said work study program, but this morning they called me and said that I had a very generous donor that had paid for a full ride. They wanted to know if I was accepting, because if I wasn't they were going to contact the donor to see if they could give it to another student." She pushes away from her brother and is now standing with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot staring at me. 

"I don't know anythi
ng about it," I shrug my shoulders and lie through my teeth. 

"Hey
, Liam, would you like a beer?" Kade holds up his empty bottle heading into the kitchen for another one. I nod yes, before he leaves the room.

"Liam
Tarseta, don't even pretend that you are not the generous donor," Harper shrieks, her voice getting high, like she can't even believe I am denying it.

I shrug again.
Kade walks back through the dining room handing me my beer. "Come on, stud muffin, let's watch the game."

"Liam, I can handle a lot of things, but I can't handle lies
," Harper shouts, walking away from me back to the kitchen. I sit on the sectional couch in the living room, opening my beer and drinking half in one swig. 

"It's you
, isn't it?" Kade is sitting on the other side of the couch with one leg up, watching the baseball game that is on the TV. "You better tell her," he says, not waiting for an answer.

"Sh
e might not accept it though." I stare at the screen having no interest in it at all. 

"She already knows it was you. Lying ab
out it will just make her mad," Easton pipes off from across the room, sitting in a recliner. "Besides, money bags, if I had spent two-hundred thousand dollars on a girl, you better believe she would know where it came from." Kade and Easton laugh.
Are the stupid meatheads really giving me advice?

Chapter 28

"What do you have planned for the summer, dear?" Laura asks when we are all sitting at the dining room table eating. I am sitting next to Harper who hasn't said much to me since before dinner. 

"Liam is taking me to Italy
," she bursts out, making me almost choke on the bite of meatloaf I just put in my mouth.

"We haven't decided that for sure." I turn to Harper who looks very satisfied.

"Oh really, do you have family there Liam?" Laura asks.

"Um
... I have an aunt who lives there." 

"What about your parents?" Lau
ra pushes for more information. I am not used to this kind of questioning.

"My father is in Chicago, my grandparents moved here when he was seventeen."

"What about your mother, where is she?" All eyes are on me as she grills me for information. I turn to Harper for help. Do I lie? What do I say? 

"Liam just learned
a few days ago who is mother is," Harper interjects, seeing my uneasiness.

"You didn't know who your mother was?" Now Easton is joining the interrogation.

"It is a long complicated story that we really can't share right now," Harper addresses her family with a firm tone, "so why don't we talk about something else."

"Why can't you talk about it?"
Kade ignores his sister's comment about talking about something else.

"Because we can't," s
he says more firmly, having a stare down with her brother.

"Does it have anything to do with why you
came home crying your eyes out?" Brad now has decided to join in. 

"I have recently found out so
me information about my mother. I can't talk about it right now because she could potentially be in danger," I speak up for myself just as Harper is about to defend me more. 

"I bet it's a scam, someon
e trying to get money from you. You know the kind where they say you have a family member in danger," Kade says, nodding his head like he has it all figured out.

"We don't know
, that is why we are not talking about it." I nod to Kade, telling him he is probably right, hoping it will put an end to the subject. 

"You poor thing, you never
knew your mother," Laura says, cocking her head giving me sympathetic eyes. 

"No." I finish off my fifth bottle of beer.
Kade stands and removes my empty and returns with fresh bottles for him and me. Not sure if the beer is helping or not. 

"That still doesn't explain why my little girl had such
a broken heart two days ago." Brad, who is sitting at the head of the table, is boring a hole in my head. 

"Daddy, that is our business," Harper spits at her dad. T
urning to him, I can tell she is telling him to shut up with her eyes. 

"Anything tha
t has you upset is OUR business," Easton cuts in.

"So where did you think your mother was all these years?" Laura just won't give up on the subject.  She is done eating and has her hands under her chin
, staring at me with genuine interest.

"Mom,
" Harper says under her breath.